A veteran Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) sergeant was arraigned Tuesday in Superior Court on charges of first-degree theft in an alleged scheme to defraud an elderly D.C. woman of more than $40,000. It is the fifth robbery or theft-related felony case against MPD officers to come to light in three months.
Second District Sgt. Aisha Hackley, also known as Aisha Jackson, appeared with her attorney and was released on her own recognizance after being charged with depositing 10 checks into her bank account that she is said to have fraudulently obtained from an 85-year-old retiree, Edwina McDonald, who lives in Northwest.
Ms. Hackley, who was met outside the hearing room by MPD Internal Affairs officers who revoked her police powers, had no comment. Her attorney, Kenneth D. Auerbach, also declined to comment. Ms. Hackley is due back in court on June 30.
MPD spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump confirmed the arrest, but said the matter “is now before the courts, and we cannot comment further at this time.”
According to an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant, Ms. McDonald contacted Bank of America on May 31 to report a number of suspicious checks charged against her account dating back to early February. The known reported loss at the time was $18,950, the affidavit states.
As Bank of America opened a fraud investigation, it also referred the matter to the MPD Fraud Unit. Further investigation showed still video pictures of Ms. Hackley depositing the checks — made out to either Aisha Jackson or her son, Kevin Jackson — in various Wells Fargo branches in Maryland, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that Ms. Hackley also was caught on videotape withdrawing money from those same Wells Fargo accounts, and that the total amount she had deposited was $43,055.
The memo line on one of the checks stated the amount payable was for “security services,” and another had the word “services” on the memo line, according to the affidavit. It also said Ms. McDonald told investigators she did not recall writing any of the checks, that the signature on eight of the checks was not hers, and that she did not know Aisha or Kevin Jackson.
During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that Ms. Hackley met Ms. McDonald as part of an MPD investigation into a suspected lottery scam in December, the affidavit states. Ms. Hackley told Bank of America fraud investigators she was assigned to the lottery fraud cases, and police were able to confirm that Ms. Hackley visited Ms. McDonald’s home on a number of occasions, the affidavit states.
Ms. Hackley told investigators Ms. McDonald reported being tricked into giving out her personal and bank account information to unknown individuals who used it to make Web-based payments on her account, and that she had assisted her in recouping some of those amounts and opening a new bank account.
Ms. Hackley was placed under arrest Tuesday at the MPD’s 2nd District and transported to MPD headquarters for processing, the affidavit states.
She is the third MPD officer since April to be implicated in a theft, burglary or robbery.
Fourth District Officer Jennifer Green, 28, pleaded guilty on April 26 to a felony charge of attempted second-degree burglary, and 4th District Officer Guillermo Ortiz, 40, pleaded guilty on May 12 to one charge of attempting to receive stolen property and one charge of possession of an unregistered firearm.
Cases against two other MPD officers, Silvestre Bonilla and Dioni Fernandez, who were arrested on the same date as Ortiz and charged with the same offense, are pending.
• Jeffrey Anderson can be reached at jmanderson@washingtontimes.com.
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